Books & Authors

I have a professor who recommends books or authors we just must read; she tells us to put it on our Do-Not-Die-Before-You-Read list. Are there books or authors you feel like this about?

Share the authors and books that have inspired you as an educator, from whom you get great insights, inspiration, ideas for teaching. if you can write a sentence or two about it, that's great. If not, just names and titles will do.

KIERAN EGAN - an outstanding scholar who has written extensively on the imagination and orality as critical aspects of education. Some titles:
An Imaginative Approach to Teaching
Children's Minds, Talking Rabbits, and Clockwork Oranges
Getting it Wrong from the Beginning
Teaching Literacy: Engaging the Imaginations of New Readers and Writers
The Future of Education: Re-imagining the School from the Ground up
Check out his webpage of books here

Connective leadership: Managing in a changing world
Jean Lipman-Blumen. (2002)
Quote from the book
'Leaders who can work effectively with others - that is, multiple networks of leaders - know the algorithm for developing community. Achieving community goals requires leaders who can avoid tripping over their egos, who can resist the urge to become the leader of all leaders. An interdependent environment calls for leaders who can relate as peers to other leaders .... In the Connective Era, leaders cannot just issue orders; instead, they have to join forces, persuade, and negotiate to resolve conflicts.' - p.20

A hope in the unseen: An American odyssey from the inner city to the ivy league
Ron Suskind. (1999)
A true account of an African American boy's journey of resilience through high school and college.

The courage to teach: Exploring the inner landscape of a teacher's life
Parker Palmer (1997)

John Dewey & the Art of Teaching: Toward reflective and imaginative practice (2005)
Douglas Simpson, Michael Jackson, Judy Aycock.
This is a very clear explanation of Dewey's perspective on teaching as a highly disciplined art form. The authors explain Dewey's different metaphors of teaching as an artist, lover, gardener, pioneer, navigator, leader, physician.... It's a very rich source for reflecting on your own metaphor for teaching which gets you in touch with your own most deeply held beliefs about teaching and learning.

Mind in Society: Development of Higher Psychological Processes (1978)
Lev Vygotsky. Edited by Michael Cole, Vera John-Steiner, Sylvia Scribner, and Ellen Souberman. Harvard University Press.
This is a great set of essays by Vygotsky that include selections from an unpublished essay 'Tool & Symbol in Children's Development', and a history of the development of higher psychological functions. This is a small but powerful book in making clear how Vygotsky's ideas related to other psychologists like Piaget and especially his idea of how language and symbolic thought shapes cognitive structure.

The three questions. (2002)
Jon Muth. Scholastic Press
A wonderful picture book by artist Jon Muth based on a short story by Leo Tolstoy. It's about a boy who wants to know the answers to 3 questions so he can be a good person - When is the best time to do things? Who is the most important one? What is the right thing to do? He travels to ask the wise turtle, has adventures along the way and realizes an obvious but unexpected answer to his questions. These questions are central to many issues teachers have and the answer points clearly to the importance of mindful teaching and learning. And the watercolour genius of Jon Muth make this book a magificent experience for readers of all ages.